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Green lawyer says O'Dea did not correct his Affidavit

O’Dea claims he corrected his affidavit. This is not true. No correction was made ever to the affidavit – indeed there is no such provision in the rules governing affidavits – it can’t be done.

What the Minister did was to agree a settlement with Maurice Quinlivan which prevented any further airing of the matter before the court. The judge to whom the settlement was announced had no role whatsoever in the case other than to receive the terms of settlement. The court was not appraised of any of the background of the case or asked to comment or adjudicate on the merits of the settlement or how O’Dea conducted himself in the course of the case. To suggest otherwise is false and misleading.

I have to admit I was really surprised Vincent P Martin wrote this. He is a very loyal Green who was appointed by Gormley (along with fellow failed Green politician Gene Feighery) to the Private Residential Tenancies Board (a lovely little part-time quango job where they get fees and exps of up to €25,000 a year... See my sig).

Vincent would have been seen as a die hard supporter of Gormley. The fact that he wrote this article is very telling.

I have to admit I was really surprised Vincent P Martin wrote this. He is a very loyal Green who was appointed by Gormley (along with fellow failed Green politician Gene Feighery) to the Private Residential Tenancies Board (a lovely little part-time quango job where they get fees and exps of up to €25,000 a year... See my sig).

Vincent would have been seen as a die hard supporter of Gormley. The fact that he wrote this article is very telling.

The Greens are ripping themselves apart.

I respect him for writing it. Remember it would probably have been commissioned and written before the Government announced the motion was being brought forward, and have been in the can to be printed on Thursday. So he was writing it in the expectation that the vote would be next week.

"In [Ireland] a wife is regarded as a chattel, just as a thoroughbred mare or cow." Mr Justice Butler in the Irish courts. 'Traditional Marriage' in the 1970s.

Endgame begins.

Originally Posted by TommyO'Brien

I respect him for writing it. Remember it would probably have been commissioned and written before the Government announced the motion was being brought forward, and have been in the can to be printed on Thursday. So he was writing it in the expectation that the vote would be next week.

Read on Tommy -

Originally Posted by Vincent P Martin

I am saddened both as a lawyer and member of the Green Party, but perhaps mostly as a citizen, that last night the Dáil supported a motion of confidence in Willie O’Dea. There was something pathetic about it all, a mean-spirited loyalty to colleague over country, a reinforcement of the sense of them and us, an overarching and deep feeling that once again the lowest standard wins the day.

The Green Party stands for more. We must be true to ourselves regardless of the consequences. The alternative is to become what we hate.

"It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it." - Upton Sinclair.

I'm not going to hold my breath. I sat through too many 'endgames' in relation to his old boss and fellow perjurer to believe that. Low standards in high places is one thing - in this country we specialise in no standards in high places (so long as there's a chance of getting away with it). Cowen has all the moral authority of a door.

I have to admit I was really surprised Vincent P Martin wrote this. He is a very loyal Green who was appointed by Gormley (along with fellow failed Green politician Gene Feighery) to the Private Residential Tenancies Board (a lovely little part-time quango job where they get fees and exps of up to €25,000 a year... See my sig).

Vincent would have been seen as a die hard supporter of Gormley. The fact that he wrote this article is very telling.

The Greens are ripping themselves apart.

Given the background that is significant. I cannot imagine how the Green party are still cohesive. They have become the most despised party in the state, and it is a hatred that can only ever be born by a supporter that feels betrayed.

The article is apt because the evidence is so stark and fatal against O'Dea. yet we are amazed, because we have not seen this kind of approach in this state ever, under any party. V. Martin is only speaking a natural truth. The poor reflection is on the state and its history for him standing out so, and on the Greens for having a member pull them up on such an obvious injustice.

I'm not going to hold my breath. I sat through too many 'endgames' in relation to his old boss and fellow perjurer to believe that. Low standards in high places is one thing - in this country we specialise in no standards in high places (so long as there's a chance of getting away with it). Cowen has all the moral authority of a door.

From experience, HE, having done hundreds of op-eds, often when a fast moving story happens, or a new angle emerges, you tweak a paragraph or two and send it into the op ed editor saying 'replace paragraph starting 'This day . . .' with the following new paragraph.'

Often indeed the op ed editor will ring you to tell you there has been a new development and you might want to change paragraphs 1 and 2, etc.

My bet is that the commission predated the announcement of the early vote. The article may even have been in the can by then, but Martin tweaked a few paragraphs to update it for developments. (I had a nightmare once, sitting in a pub quite jarred with a gang of colleagues and getting a call at 9.30 saying a new angle had broken and they wanted me to do a new opening three paragraphs. So the opening three paragraphs of the article as published were written on the back of a beermat ripped open so I could write on it, while jarred, and phoned in to the office while standing drunkenly in the jacks." It must have looked odd - a drunk guy on a mobile phone saying "Ahern's excuse that he was unaware of the claim is not supported by the evidence fullstop new paragraph Burke's statement comma in which he . . ." to someone. The woman who was copytaking was highly professional through, even as I slurred my words and struggled to read my own handwriting on the beermat!!!

Back then we didn't have blackberries or iPhones to send emails from your phone. (We didn't didn't even have colour screens on phones, or cameras! God be with those days!!!)

"In [Ireland] a wife is regarded as a chattel, just as a thoroughbred mare or cow." Mr Justice Butler in the Irish courts. 'Traditional Marriage' in the 1970s.